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Gizmodo: AirPlay arrived this week, perhaps not quite as ass-kickingly as we had hoped. Here’s a clip of Air Video, the excellent stream-any-video-you-want-to-your-iPad app rigged up to beam video to an Apple TV. Basically, this is how AirPlay should work.

And hopefully will, once Apple sorts out the relevant APIs. This demo was done with private ones, so the functionality won’t be in the App Store’s Air Video anytime soon. In this case, the workflow is admittedly circuitous—the video’s being streamed from a computer to the iPad, encoded on the fly, and beamed from the iPad to the Apple TV—and it’s not clear if the iPad has quite what it takes in terms of processing power to do the on-the-fly conversion itself, say with an app like VLC, and then stream that video to the ATV. But it all comes back to what we really want here, and hopefully what Apple will let developers implement, once they iron things out a bit more: use AirPlay to send any video we’re watching on our mobile devices, in any app, to our big screens. Here’s to hoping.

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DVICE: Who needs Apple TV Deux or to spend an extra buck for renting iTunes movies in HD? This spring, both DLO and Creative Labs will have iPod docks that connect to HDTVs via HDMI and will upconvert standard def movies from your iPod to HD.

The DLO HomeDock HD will upconvert films to either 720p or 1080i, depending on your HDTV’s native resolution, includes a TOSLINK digital audio jack and an RF remote.

Creative Labs’ Xdock HD only does 720p but includes component video jacks for older sets, and also converts a movie’s stereo sound into 5.1 surround. Along with the dock, you get a 2.4 GHz wireless distribution hub that sends your iPod sound to a second audio system in another room.

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TVPredictions: Apple yesterday gave its disappointing Internet TV device a face lift,  adding High-Definition movies and lowering the price.

At this week’s Macworld conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company is unveiling new software for the  Apple TV, allowing owners to rent movies from the iTunes store which can be played back on a widescreen HDTV.

The iTunes movie catalog will consist of more than 1,000 titles including more than 100 in high-def. The list will include films from all major studios.

“With the new Apple TV and iTunes Movie Rentals, movie lovers can rent DVD-quality or stunning HD movies from their couch with just a click of a button,” said Jobs. “No more driving to the video store or waiting for DVDs to arrive in the mail.”

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PC World: Apple may have had high hopes for its first generation Apple TV, but analyst sales estimates indicate the product is not as successful as once thought. Blaming the iTunes video revolution that never happened, market research firm, Forrester said the Apple TV failed to catch on with consumers.

Forrester predicted in May that Apple would sell 1 million Apple TVs by year end, counting largely on the Apple faithful to purchase the device. That is not the case anymore.

“In addition to the 400,000 Apple TV units we estimate Apple has sold thus far, the company will be lucky to sell another 400,000 in the year-end holiday rush, short of our one million estimate,” said Forrester analyst James McQuivey. “Unfortunately, the same lack of interest in iTunes video will mean the iPhone and the iPod touch have less video momentum to ride.”

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Electronista: Apple intends to revitalize its flagging Apple TV hub by launching HD video downloads on iTunes, according to a rumor from a source which in the past accurately described the iPod touch in advance of its launch. A “selection” of the movies and TV shows available from the company’s store would receive a significant step up in resolution from today’s videos, which are currently limited to the maximum 640×480 size officially supported by the iPhone and all existing iPod models. Apple is stocking up on supplies of its media hubs in anticipation of increased demand spurred by the HD videos, says the purported insider.

While many of the details were left out of the alleged leak, the 40GB and 160GB Apple TV models on sale now support playback of widescreen videos as sharp as 720p (1280×720), qualifying as HD-capable. Apple’s September iPod refresh also introduced a new component video output cable that would theoretically support HD video, although the existing lack of support by current Apple handhelds would limit its usefulness with iTunes HD content.

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Gizmodo: Walt Mossburg said in his review that “Apple TV’s most formidable competitor is the Xbox 360 game console from Microsoft, which, in addition to playing games, can also play back content from Windows computers on a TV.” The Times’ techmeister David Pogue also calls up the 360 Media Extender in his review, as well some other gadgets.In our head-to-head, we took Vista Ultimate and used a 360 as a Windows Media Extender. With this setup, we came to the conclusion that the hulking white box ekes out the slimmer, shorter Apple TV—unless you have a standard XP computer with Media Center, or copious amounts of Apple iTunes DRM’d content. (…)

–Conclusion–
If you use iTunes as your primary media software and want to get your content on your widescreen TV, it’s not a bad way to do it, but that’s all it does (for now). If you already have a 360 and don’t mind Media Center, I see little point in blowing $300 (225 euro) on Apple TV if all that concerns you is bringing content stuck on your PC to your TV. You already have a $400 (300 euro) machine that does more than port media, it plays games. Great ones. And soon it’ll be an IPTV box to boot.

Apple TV is a bit more elegant in its presentation, I think, and it’s slightly easier to get to content with it, but it could do better. More importantly, it doesn’t do what it does so much better than the 360/Media Center setup that it warrants a separate purchase if you already have a 360, or even plan on getting one. Value-wise, the 360 is the winner here, at least for now.

But there are better convergence solutions on the horizon, so if you don’t need one of these now sit tight, because things are only going to get better.

(AE: for the full review, please visit Gizmodo.)

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Gizmodo:
1. The waiting period when you first boot it up is torturous. Staring at a white progress bar for over two minutes is too long. I want to start watching TV on my TV now, damnit!

2. Syncing over a wireless G network is slower than you would expect. Not really Apple TV’s fault, though. Draft-N FTW. Oh, and pick a short password for your wireless network unless you want to take a half hour punching it in with the onscreen keyboard.

3. Speaking of syncing, it’s all you can do regarding content on the Apple TV hard drive – you can’t manually manage it. That is, on an iPod, you can add and delete songs as you wish, one at a time in iTunes, but you can only re-sync your Apple TV to change what’s on the disk.

4. If you have ugly or tiny album art, browsing through your music collection sucks because of how prominent the art is in the interface.

5. Trailers have to be completely buffered before you can play them if you stream them from the iTunes store, and fast forwarding is a bit wonky on streamed videos.

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Bizjournals: Apple Inc. is expected to debut its much anticipated Apple TV on Tuesday, possibly allowing the high-tech company to sell high-definition movies and TV programs, according to a published report Monday.

Apple has fixed some problems and updated software to prepare for the launch, according to Investor’s Business Daily. The company’s most recent versions of iTunes includes a “Look for Apple TV” panel and an Apple TV Help section. (…)

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Reuters: Computer and entertainment devices maker Apple Inc. will delay until mid-March its Apple TV device for playing computer-based video on television sets, a spokeswoman said on Monday.”Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments mid-March,” spokeswoman Lynn Fox said by e-mail.

Consumer electronics makers for years have promised to give consumers better access to movies, pictures, music and other media stored on their computers through wired and wireless links to other devices, but offerings so far largely have been complicated or limited in scope.

Apple, known for its easy-to-use iPod digital music players, in early January said it would launch in February the $299 (about 225 euro) Apple TV, which wirelessly links computers to televisions.

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TechDigest: Apple iTunes may begin selling TV shows to Europe from the spring, according to Luxembourg’s economic minister Jeannot Krecke, who said that Apple had been in talks with Luxembourg authorities for several months.

“Apple is going to extend its electronic retail activities in Luxembourg by launching this coming spring its iTunes video platform for the sale of videos in Europe,” Krecke told Agence France Presse.

And in other iTV news, the BBC is looking to make a little history today possibly becoming the first traditional TV station to offer all of their programming on demand and over the Internet.

The BBC’s new iPlayer service will lets viewers watch all of the BBC’s programmes from the previous 7 days, and even lets them store shows on their PC for up to 30 days. A final decision approving the service will be made May 2nd.

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DotGizmo: Introducing Apple TV: a media extender that basically makes it possible for you to acces your iTunes content on any modern display (HDMI, DVI or component video connection is required).

You can use either a wired or wireless network and either a Mac or a PC.

The extender has a built-in 40GB drive that can store up to 50 hours of video.

The unit will start shipping in the States during February for $299 (around €230).

See more at Apple.com

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